The most common ingredient added to barbecue sauce is garlic, followed by brown sugar.

The original barbecue sauce, dating back hundreds of years, consisted of vinegar and pepper.

Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, hosted the first barbecue at the White House that featured Texas-style barbecued ribs.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1832 Philip Danforth Armour was born. An American industrialist, he was a pioneer in use of refrigeration and meat canning. Armour & Co. helped make Chicago the meatpacking capital of the world.

1861 John Stevens Henslow died. This British clergyman and botanist was a mentor of Charles Darwin. To get farmers to apply scientific methods, he gave lectures on the fermentation of manure. He also showed Irish farmers how to get starch from rotten potatoes during the potato famine of 1845-1846.

2005 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Michigan and New York could not prohibit people from buying wine online from out of state wineries. Some 23 other states have similar laws that presumably would also be affected by the ruling.